How Green Was My Golf Course
"Drop in groundwater perplexes scientists," reads the headline on the top story in today's edition of Bend's Only Daily Newspaper.
Division Street Skate Park
On Friday night The Poet House hosted an art auction to raise money for the construction of the Division Street Skate Park. The donation only event was a silent auction for skate decks painted, heat transferred, screen-printed, photo emulsified and developed, and a myriad of other mixed media art.
Studio Tested, Mother Approved: The real Tyler Fortier stands up, and for a good cause
Thinking of his next album…alreadyPam Fortier didn't have to search too extensively to find musical talent for the benefit she was putting together for her non-profit organization that provides advocates for abused and neglected children. In fact, she didn't have to look past her own family tree to book her son, Tyler Fortier, a Eugene-based…
WEEKEND WARRIOR 2/20-2/22
The weekend warrior is back and here again on Friday afternoon to give some helpful pointers for the weekend. Without further adieu:
FRIDAY NIGHT - 2/20 Cicada Omega, Larry and His Flask at the Silver Moon Brewing Co.
The Money Trail Leads to Some Strange Places
The Juniper Ridge Info blog did a fine job of getting the skinny on who got how much from whom in the last Bend City Council campaign, and the results are intriguing - and in one respect rather surprising.
How the Web Was Captured by Sauron
In a post delightfully headlined "Death by Moron," blogger Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle rips into the trolls, orcs, goblins and other repugnant Tolkienesque life forms that infest Internet forums.
Alley’s First Out of the Gate in Governor Race
Allen Alley, the Republican who lost to Democrat Ben Westlund in the battle for the secretary of state's office last year, is taking a shot at the governorship.
The Other Side?
Why are there no arguments in favor of measure 9-70 in the voters' pamphlet? It seems like a responsible action to require homes to be connected to a sanitary sewer system or to upgrade existing septic systems. Long-term protection of the quality of our groundwater is essential, and unless we take action, the quality of…
Obama Should Remember His Allies
This week's letter comes from Edward Schmidt who urges President Obama (wow, it still feels good to write that) to stick to his policy guns and avoid pandering to the middle. Thanks for the letter, Edward.
A Broad Brush
For some time I have heard around town about the Bend police and Deschutes County Sheriff's department being rather abusive of their power. However, recently things appear to have completely spiraled out of control with both of these departments. Their priorities seem to focus on preying on the average hard-working, tax-paying citizen, rather than actually…
Notes From a Backroom Deal
Editor's note: Like those great old timey radio shows, we're taking the unprecedented step of running the following letter in two installments. If you just can't wait for the dramatic conclusion go to tsweekly.com, Letters. You Luddites will just have to wait another week. Somewhere in the middle of a big state, the good citizens…
A Stud Convert
Wow, what a mean-spirited, arrogant letter from B. Graham regarding studded tires. Despite the fact that the author tries to use carefully selected science to refute, even mock other letter-writers' experiences and opinions, I would like to add a few studies and accounts of my own to the debate. I feel that I am well…
Nature’s Face Blanket: Why we love our winter beards
Winter beards, and beards in general, have become increasingly acceptable in the past couple years. Gone are assumptions that the bearded man is homeless, a logger, a homeless logger, a 19th century sailor, an iconic Christmas figure, a sexual predator, or, God forbid, a hippie. It's come to the point that a man can have…
Carpe Diem: A Central Oregon dilemma
Winter is back! After a long drought, new snow arrived this past week just in time to make WinterFest feel like WinterFest and prevent local powderhounds from committing hara-kiri. In fact, it presented us with a classic Central Oregon dilemma: What is the best way to utilize a perfect powder weekend? Which, of course, is…
Any Way You Slice It
How to kill a ninja: You can always kill a ninja with a flurry of indiscriminate sword-swings. But ninjas are resilient little suckers-almost as durable as you are. It can take a lot of sword-swings, which just isn't practical when you're facing a whole pack. If you really want to put a ninja to rest…
Jason No-Die! – Friday the Umpteenth adds nothing new to formulaic concept
Ahoy there!The same team responsible for the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is back again with less fervor and a rote take on an already tired genre. With the newest Friday the 13th nothing has changed to reinvigorate the worn-out formula. Jason, it seems, has been resurrected for the sole purpose of raking in box…
Money Walks: Run Lola Run director misfires with bloated bank thriller
Owen and Watts make a lonely run on the bank. I have never been to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, but I imagine the trip would be a heckuva lot more fascinating with non-stop Uzi fire and fountains of spurting blood. That is one thing The International understands pretty well. Unfortunately, it doesn't…
Quick Bites – Restaurant Rebound
The once bustling merenda space will reopen as 900 Wall in April. After being courted by several big name chains, the space formerly occupied by Merenda has a new tenant in 900 Wall, a local group spearheaded by former Merenda GM Mike Millette who plans to open his new restaurant in early April. The restaurant…
Quick Bites – Restaurant Rebound
The once bustling merenda space will reopen as 900 Wall in April. After being courted by several big name chains, the space formerly occupied by Merenda has a new tenant in 900 Wall, a local group spearheaded by former Merenda GM Mike Millette who plans to open his new restaurant in early April. The restaurant…
Warming Up
Sound Check would like to announce that the winter music lull has finally come to an end. We can say this with confidence thanks to the massive pile-up of music that hit town last weekend.
It began with a Thursday night jaunt to a packed and delightfully sweaty Silver Moon Brewing Co. where That 1…
Sounds from the Squeezebox
Who knew Weird Al had kin in Oregon?Jason Webley plays the accordion and that's probably the first thing you'll notice about him. The next thing that you'll realize is that the Jason Webley Trio, in the spirit of so many other bands that play on the McMenamins' Great Northwest Tour, doesn't fit all that easily…
Four Kentuckians in Oregon: Cicada Omega is out of place, but hardly out of tune
Perhaps we should have got instruments before blowing the budget on these suits.Cicada Omega is a band of Kentuckians living in Portland. The four Southerners are musical expatriates of sorts. They're playing a complicated blend of styles that's anchored in blues but touches on gospel and roots rock in a city where people sometimes might…
Our Picks for the Week of 2/18-2/26
Mass Transit, Mindscape, Gainon the Illyrical friday 20 Start off the weekend with a free night of local hip-hop headlined by the eclectic beats of Mass Transit. The show is hosted by Mindscape, who many of you probably know as Fish from Person People, but he's got a sweet game of his own. Oh yeah,…
Stimulate This!The people’s bailout, trials of the Taliban, and Bristol Palin
Finally proving that they can do the nation's business without bipartisanship or any semblance of full disclosure - having learned well from the Bush Admin and GOP - Democrats passed the $787 billion stimulus bill with a House vote of 246-183, and a Senate vote of 60-38 (with only three Republican Senators saying "Yeah, sure…").…
Impufficient: Or, Hijacked by Harvard in Central Oregon
During my lifetime, there have been more than a few occasions where I've felt the impulse to act to fix something. Typically, my wife recognizes this devious, uniquely intense, gleam in my eye as she observes me moving about rather deliberately, locating the tools I'll require to address the task at hand. (She usually rolls…
Keeping the Light On: As unemployment soars so does demand for energy assistance
Krieg Brooks doesn't look like he's hit bottom. A muscular Iraq vet with a firm handshake and a Red Wings cap cinched down over a full head of hair, he appears younger than his 47 years. But keeping up appearances is part of the game when you're out of work and struggling just to keep…
Ben Cannon’s Brutal Beer Tax Increase
Don’t mess with successTimes are tough in Oregon, and all of us - including beer lovers - have to swallow hard and bear our share of the pain. But a proposal to raise the state tax on a barrel of beer by almost 1,700% is asking beer drinkers and the state's craft brewing industry to…
Connecting Some Dots on the Metolius
Carla Axtman of the Blue Oregon blog takes a look at the lobbying going on in favor of the proposed Metolius destination resorts and raises some intriguing questions. For instance: Why is Rep. Gene Whisnant, whose southern Deschutes County district is nowhere near the Metolius, getting contributions from resort developers?
